Maya Rudolph is always fantastic.

OK, Gugu Mbatha-Raw automatically bumps any episode up my list!

"Vegan Cinderella" was great—very naturalistic and a good example of show not tell. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Kristin Bell is great in this, but I am enjoying the performances from the actors playing Chidi, Tahani, and Jianyu so much. They are all comic geniuses!

I agree about there being more inherent drama in her being in the minors and striving to make the majors. We'll see.

That recommendation of "Explorers" is on point! Love that episode, and it's a great one to introduce some key themes of the show to a newbie.

It takes a lot for me to say this, but I wouldn't watch this, even for Alicia Vikander.

This is so true. It was such a terrible show, and yet the superhotness of those two kept me coming back for more. I kept wondering why he didn't have the lead role they gave to the terrible forgettable white dude.

Seconding this. The first season is uneven, but it has some great individual episodes (most them involving Kira) and the show's great strength is its long-term arcs and character growth; the early setup makes the more rewarding seasons that come later much better.

Have you read Roxane Gay's essay about adoring that series? It's definitely worth it.

Glad to hear it; I've been debating that one between "looks really good" and "not in a mood to be depressed right now."

I am actually an adult and read and enjoyed that one as well. It's not as good as the Heroes of Olympus series, but that particular author is noticeably stronger when he deals with one particular character who was based on his dyslexic, ADHD son.

I've been hearing great things about this book (including, most memorably, "if Murakami wrote believable female characters"). I will add it to my list!

If you actually want to understand the Qu'ran, I would put the entire book down and read the very short Understanding the Islamic Scripture: A Study of Select Passages from the Qu'ran by Mustansir Mir instead.

I enjoy Rick Riordan—to be perfectly honest, he hits my adult heart the way Harry Potter, which I appreciate but don't love, hits a lot of people—though his writing isn't the greatest. He succeeds in what he sets out to do, though, and his work is a gift to reluctant readers in a needed way.

Station Eleven is fantastic! Enjoy it!

I'm in the minority of people who really disliked American Gods; it felt like a very shallow treatment of an theme that deserved better.

I enjoyed Stories of Your Life and Others, but I remember the title story being so far better than any of the others (I cried like a baby and got my mind blown) that they suffered in comparison.

Second the recommendation for Howl's Moving Castle.

I enjoyed An Ember in the Ashes; it's very much lightweight post-Hunger Games YA fantasy action/romance, and lot stronger when the author focuses on the pseudo-Arab elements than on the pseudo-Roman, ones, but the characterization is strong and I appreciate that it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. The Muslim author…